This invention relates to genes that regulate circadian clock functions and photoperiodism in plants, and relates in particular to the ELF3 gene. Aspects of the invention include the purified ELF3 gene product (ELF3 protein), as well as nucleic acid molecules encoding this gene product. Nucleic acid vectors, transgenic cells, and transgenic plants having modified ELF3 activity are also provided.
Shoot development in flowering plants is a continuous process ultimately controlled by the activity of the shoot apical meristem. Apical meristem activity during normal plant development is sequential and progressive, and can be summarized as a series of overlapping phases: vegetativexe2x86x92inflorescencexe2x86x92floral (Vxe2x86x92Ixe2x86x92F). Over the past 50 years many models have been proposed for the control of the vegetative-to-floral transition. These models range from simple single pathway models to complex multiple pathway models, and are largely based on physiological studies (for review, see Bernier, 1988). Modem techniques provide researchers with genetic and molecular methods that can be used to further investigate the control of Vxe2x86x92Ixe2x86x92F transitions.
One such modem technique now routinely practiced by plant molecular biologists is the production of transgenic plants carrying a heterologous gene sequence. Methods for incorporating an isolated gene sequence into an expression cassette, producing plant transformation vectors, and transforming many types of plants are well known. Examples of the production of transgenic plants having modified characteristics as a result of the introduction of a heterologous transgene include: U.S. Pat. No. 5,268,526 (modification of phytochrome expression in transgenic plants); U.S. Pat. No. 5,719,046 (production of herbicide resistant plants by introduction of bacterial dihydropteroate synthase gene); U.S. Pat. No. 5,231,020 (modification of flavenoids in plants); 5,583,021 (production of virus resistant plants); and U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,767,372 and 5,500,365 (production of insect resistant plants by introducing Bacillus thuringiensis genes).
Light quality, photoperiod, and temperature often act as important, and for some species essential, environmental cues for the initiation of flowering. However, there is very little information on the molecular mechanisms that directly regulate the developmental pathway from reception of the inductive light signal(s) to the onset of flowering and the initiation of floral meristems. The analysis of floral transition mutants in pea (Pisum sativum) (see Murfet, 1985) and Arabidopsis (see Koornneef et al., 1991) has demonstrated that at least part of the genetic hierarchy controlling flowering onset is responsive to the number of hours of light perceived by a plant within a 24 hour light/dark cycle. The monitoring of the length of the light period is referred to as the photoperiodic response. Photoperiodic responses have long been thought to be tied to one or more biological clocks that regulate many physiological and developmental processes on the basis of an endogenous circadian rhythm.
Many important physiological and developmental plant processes are influenced by circadian rhythms. These include the induction of gene transcription, leaf movement, stomatal opening, and the photoperiodic control of flowering. While the relationship of these plant processes to the circadian rhythm has long been recognized, the genetic analysis of circadian rhythms in plants has only recently begun. Most of the genetic analysis of circadian regulation has been performed with Drosophila and Neurospora crassa, where mutational studies have led to the isolation of the per and frq genes, respectively (Hall, 1990; Dunlap, 1993). These genes are thought to encode components of the circadian oscillator, in part because, while null alleles cause arrhythmic responses, alleles of these genes exist that produce either long or short period responses. Transcriptional production of per and frq mRNA cycles on a twenty-four hour period, and both genes regulate their own expression (Edery et al., 1994; Aronson et al., 1994).
Arabidopsis is a quantitative long-day (LD) plantxe2x80x94wild-type plants will initiate flowering more quickly when grown under LD light conditions than when grown under short-day (SD) light conditions. In order to identify genes required for floral initiation and development, populations of Arabidopsis thaliana ecotype Columbia grown in SD conditions have been screened for early-flowering mutants. Isolated mutants were then examined for additional shoot development anomalies, and those with discreet shoot phenotypes related to meristem function or light perception were considered for further analysis. Such mutants may identify genes that are part of functionally redundant pathways that operate, to varying degrees, as xe2x80x9cfail-safexe2x80x9d mechanisms for ensuring shoot growth and reproductive development. Examples of such functionally redundant pathways have been described in studies of Drosophila (e.g., Hxc3xclskamp et al., 1990) and C. elegans (e.g., Lambie and Kimble, 1991). The key genes identified by these Arabidopsis screens were the TERMINAL FLOWER 1 (TFL1) gene and the EARLY-FLOWERING 3 (ELF3) gene (Shannon and Meeks-Wagner, 1991; Zagotta et al., 1992).
The early-flowering (elf3) mutant of Arabidopsis is insensitive to photoperiod with regard to floral initiation. Plants homozygous for a mutation in the ELF3 locus flower at the same time in LD and SD growth conditions, whereas floral initiation of wild-type plants is promoted by LD growth conditions (Zagotta et al., 1992; Zagotta et al., 1996). In LD conditions, the flowering time of the elf3-1 heterozygote is intermediate between wild-type and the homozygous mutant. In addition to being photoperiod-insensitive, all elf3 mutants display the long hypocotyl phenotype characteristic of plants defective in light reception or the transduction of light signals (Zagotta et al., 1992; Zagotta et al., 1996). The majority of long hypocotyl mutants that have been identified are defective in red light-mediated inhibition of hypocotyl elongation. In contrast, elf3 mutants are primarily defective in blue light-dependent inhibition of hypocotyl elongation, although they are also partially deficient in red light-dependent inhibition of hypocotyl elongation (Zagotta et al., 1996).
The availability of the ELF3 gene would facilitate the production of transgenic plants having altered circadian clock function and programmed photoperiodic responses. It is to such a gene that the present invention is directed.
The invention provides an isolated ELF3 gene from Arabidopsis that is shown to complement the elf3 photoperiod-insensitive flowering and elongated hypocotyl defects when introduced into elf3 mutant plants.
One aspect of this invention is a purified protein having ELF3 protein biological activity. The prototypical Arabidopsis ELF3 protein has the amino acid sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 2. Variants of this protein that differ from SEQ ID NO: 2 by one or more conservative amino acid substitutions are also provided, as are homologs of the ELF3 protein. Such homologs typically share at least 60% sequence identity with the sequence shown in SEQ ID NO: 2. Nucleic acid molecules encoding these proteins are also part of this invention. Such nucleic acid molecules include those having the nucleotide sequences set forth in SEQ ID NO: 1, SEQ ID NO: 3, and SEQ ID NO:4.
Recombinant nucleic acid molecules in which a promoter sequence is operably linked to any of these ELF3 protein-encoding nucleic acid sequences are further aspects of this invention. The invention also provides cells transformed with such a recombinant nucleic acid molecule and transgenic plants comprising the recombinant nucleic acid molecule. Such transgenic plants may be, for instance, Arabidopsis, pepper, tomato, tobacco, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, canola, bean, soybean, rice, corn, wheat, barley, citrus, cotton, cassava and walnut, trees such as poplar, oak, maple, pine, spruce, and other conifers, and ornamental plants (e.g., petunias, orchids, carnations, roses, impatiens, pansies, lilies, snapdragons, geraniums, and so forth).
A further aspect of this invention is an isolated nucleic acid molecule or oligonucleotide comprising 15, 20, 30, 50, or 100 contiguous nucleotides of the sequence shown in SEQ ID NOs: 1, 3, or 4. Such nucleic acid molecules or oligonucleotides may be operably linked to a promoter sequence, and may be in the sense or antisense orientation in relation to such a promoter. The invention also includes cells and plants transformed with such recombinant nucleic acid molecules, with or without an attached promoter.
Further embodiments of this invention include isolated nucleic acid molecules that hybridize under specified hybridization conditions to the nucleic acid sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 1, and that encode a protein having ELF3 protein biological activity. Closely related ELF3 gene homologs may be detected by hybridization under stringent conditions, whereas less closely related homologs may be detected by hybridization at low stringency. Appropriate wash conditions for stringent hybridization may be 55xc2x0 C., 0.2xc3x97 SSC and 0.1% SDS for 1 hour. Appropriate wash conditions for low stringency hybridization may be 50xc2x0 C., 2xc3x97 SSC, 0.1% for 3 hours. Such a hybridizing isolated nucleic acid molecule may be operably linked to a promoter for expression in plants. Cells transformed with such a recombinant nucleic acid molecule, and transgenic plants that comprise such a molecule, are also provided.
The invention also provides the 5xe2x80x2 regulatory region of the ELF3 gene. This regulatory region, or parts thereof, may be used to obtain ELF3-like circadian-rhythm expression of particular genes. For example, the ELF3 5xe2x80x2 regulatory region may be operably linked to an open reading frame of a gene of interest, and the resulting recombinant construct may be introduced into a plant by transformation. One embodiment of an ELF3 regulatory region is about nucleotides 1 through about 1900 of the 5xe2x80x2 upstream region shown in SEQ ID NO: 5.